Lena Chen是一位美國華裔作家兼藝術家，在線上和線下表演作品中廣泛涉及社會關注議題，曾獲Judson-Morrissey 的「傑出新媒體獎」，在法蘭克福的B3動態影像雙年展獲「最佳新興人才獎」，作品參與過柏林的Transmediale、杜塞爾多夫的Die Digitale、斯德哥爾摩的Färgfabriken和巴爾的摩藝術博物館等藝術節展的表演。她擁有哈佛大學的社會學學士學位，目前正在卡內基梅隆大學藝術學院攻讀碩士學位，曾在牛津、耶魯、斯坦福、SXSW、HOPE和re：publica發表演講，是獲Millay Colony藝術基金會資助的駐場藝術家，曾任職Frank-Ratchye STUDIO創意諮詢部門，並在多家藝術機構工作過，其中包括公共藝術辦公室、火人節全球藝術基金會、市民媒體實驗室、婦女媒體中心等。她目前是凱利史特拉霍恩劇院（Kelly Strayhorn Theatre）的駐場藝術家，正在開發一款互動遊戲，探討有關社交媒體審查制度和社交媒體對性工作者封殺（ deplatforming ）的問題。
藝術家的網頁: lenachen.com
藝術家的Instagram: instagram.com/elleperil
藝術家的Twitter: twitter.com/lenachen
演講敘述
Since the 2018 passage of FOSTA/SESTA in the US, sex workers and erotic content producers have been systematically marginalized by mainstream social media and payment processors while increasingly becoming the subject of surveillance through facial recognition and data-scraping software. Numerous sites have shut down, disconnecting sex workers from clients and peer support communities and further exposing them to danger by forcing them to work in isolation.
In the game OnlyBans, the player assumes the character of a sex worker establishing their online brand and dreaming of lucrative paydays while living in fear of cyber creeps and account deletion by Big Tech platforms. As the player attempts to evade censorship and surveillance, the game reveals how “free” the Internet really is when you are engaged in stigmatized labour subject to policing and criminalization. Finally, the game offers a vision of how marginalized communities might band together to protest these unjust policies and create better alternatives.
Made on the Twine platform in collaboration with Maggie Oates and Goofy Toof, OnlyBans is inspired by the aesthetics of everyday digital platforms and devices. Incorporated into the gameplay are real images and videos sourced by open call and contributed by sex workers and erotic content producers that have been censored on social media.
Project Website: OnlyBansGame.com